Study
by repmetsyrrah
Summary: S/T 3x05 AU. Sybil is nervous the night before her first doctor's exam in medical school and so decides to 'practice' on her (willing) husband. Written for S/T Smut Weekend Part Deux.


Written for S/T Smut Weekend Part Deux. Inspired by a post on tumblr and following a not-uncommon headcanon of a living Sybil moving on to study medicine after the birth of her first child.

Thanks, as always, to babageneush for the beta.

**Study**

* * *

Bedtime meant going to sleep.

At least that was what the Bransons had to impress upon their over-active two year old every night.

However, it seemed tonight her mother was the one who hadn't quite understood the message. After the fifth sigh and the latest in a series of countless readjustments to her position Tom rolled his eyes and turned the light on.

He didn't have to ask. He knew what was bothering her, why she was too nervous to find sleep. He'd been hearing all week about her first proper exam. Somehow not even the entrance exams to allow her into the medical school in London had provoked these nerves.

Perhaps it was the realisation of how much work would be required. Getting in was one thing but now she had years of study to prove that she truly did belong. Being one of only three women in her class didn't help that pressure either.

Sybil sighed yet again and turned to look at him, her distress evident.

They were both still pleasantly unclothed from their activities earlier that night but it seemed the act had done little to calm or tire her as it usually did.

"Love, you'll be fine," he assured her. "You said yourself this is just the basic stuff you learnt when you were nursing."

"But this isn't a nursing exam, Tom. This is proper medical school. They're not training bandage changers, or wheelchair pushers, this is a test for doctors."

"You're already in, that was the hard part and-"

"What if I fail?"

"You won't."

"We'll have to go back to Downton again. I can see Papa now. He doesn't think this will work, he's only paying for it so he has the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so' when it all falls apart. Oh, of course they indulged me during the war but this is too far now and-"

"Love!"

Sybil stopped, biting her lip and refusing to meet his gaze. Tom moved closer, placing a hand on her cheek and turning her head gently until she was looking at him.

"This is one test. You won't be kicked out for failing. But you don't need to worry about that because you won't. And your father wouldn't pay for your study unless he believed in you."

"Do you think?"

Tom sighed, pulling her into his arms and placing a kiss on her head. "Your father and I see eye-to-eye on very little but there is one thing we find ourselves in complete agreement with and that is that you are a very smart, brilliant and capable woman."

Sybil nodded. She stretched slightly, affording him a rather nice view as the sheet fell off her body. She stilled suddenly and frowned before turning to him.

"Lie down."

Tom blinked but did as his wife commanded, confused when she pulled the sheet off him, letting it fall on his feet, leaving the rest of his body completely exposed.

"What are you doing?"

"Studying," she informed him, as if it should have been obvious. "See, this is the clavicle," she said confidently, trailing a finger along his collarbone. "then the manubrium." She tapped an area at the top of his chest. "Sternum…" He finger trailed a line down the middle, between his ribs before moving back up.

"This is where your heart is…"

She placed a hand on the center of his chest, a little to the left, her fingers curling slightly as if holding it in her grasp. He considered telling her she already had held it for a long time now.

"And the lungs." She pressed both her hands onto his chest, one either side. "The right one has three lobes, superior, middle, and inferior. But the left only has two, because the heart takes up space on that side."

Leaving her hands pressed against him she moved them down.

"Stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys..."

Sybil continued listing off organs, moving past the familiar and onto a few he wasn't so sure of, tapping at various places on his body, moving across his chest and abdomen but in a generally downward direction until-

"Well I know what that one is, love." Tom laughed, her hand finding one organ he knew she was very familiar with.

"Did you know," Sybil said, moving her hand over him. "The male erectile response is involuntary. It doesn't require arousal, only mechanical stimulation."

Tom nodded, taking a moment to collect himself as her hand continued to stroke him.

"That's interesting. Though, I can assure you, darlin'," he managed to choke out. "As much as I love your… mechanical stimulation- that's not the case right now."

"It's caused by the veins expanding, allowing blood to rush in, that's what makes it grow harder."

Tom nodded, not quite able to form coherent thoughts as her other hand joined the first. It was quite possibly the most unerotic pillow talk he'd ever had but the mere fact it was her saying it...

Not to mention her hands.

"Love-"

He choked out the warning but she refused to listen, continuing to move her hands in exceedingly well-practiced moves until he felt himself tip over the edge, his hands grasping the sheets as he cried her name.

Despite almost three years of marriage and countless similar situations, he couldn't help the embarrassment that came when he regained his senses and realised he'd left a mess.

"Sorry... I-"

"Here," Sybil said, completely unfazed as she retrieved a towel from the drawers at the end of the bed and set about cleaning them up.

"Do you feel more prepared now?" he asked after she was done, tossing the towel in the laundry basket.

"I think so."

"Good." He smiled, taking her hands and guiding her to lie down on the bed. "My turn."

His grin widened as he saw understanding flash in her eyes, and he kissed her.

"I may not be studying anatomy," he told her, kissing her again, this time on her neck, and continuing, moving lower with each one. "But I think I know a thing or two about the human body that might interest you."

"I've no doubt about that, Mr. Branson," Sybil assured him, before his head dipped lower and words became unnecessary.


End file.
